TRUE  PREPAREDNESS 


A  BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESS  DE- 
LIVERED AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
CINCINNATI  ON  JUNE  4,  1916,  BY 
PRESIDENT  CHARLES  WILLIAM  DABNEY 


Reprinted  from  the  Uaiveraityoi  Cinormati  Record,  Vol.  XII 


TRUE  PREPAREDNESS 


BACCALAUREATE  ADDRESS 


By  PRESIDENT  CHARLES  W.  DABXEY 


June  4,  1916 


"Stand,  therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with 
truth,  and  having  on  the  breastplate  of  righteousness; 
and  your  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel 
of  peace."  Ephesians  VI,  14,  15. 


This  is  a  part  of  Paul's  exhortation  to  spiritual  pre- 
paredness addressed  to  the  Ephesians.  He  uses  the  terms 
descriptive  of  the  equipment  of  the  Roman  soldier,  the 
finest  soldier  in  the  world  down  to  his  time,  and  urges  the 
warrior  to  put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God — the  breast- 
plate of  righteousness,  the  shield  of  faith,  and  the  helmet 
of  salvation — and  to  take  in  his  hand  the  sword  of  the 
spirit.  It  is  thus  an  exhortation  to  proper  equipment  for 
a  spiritual  struggle,  to  preparedness  for  a  great  war  with 
evil.  In  this  central  verse  of  the  great  charge,  Paul  gives 
the  three  great  elements  of  moral  courage,  the  qualities 
that  enable  the  champion  of  the  right  to  stand.  They  are 
truth  which  girds  his  loins,  making  him  staunch;  right- 
eousness, which,  like  a  breastplate,  protects  his  heart 
and  vital  organs;  and  the  gospel,  religion,  which,  like 
shoes,  gives  his  feet  security  and  swiftness  in  the  battle. 
These  are  the  essential  things  needed  by  the  true  soldier; 
they  constitute  the  chief  elements  of  the  preparedness  of 
the  warrior  in  the  great  battle  for  humanity.  I  ask  you 
to  consider  these  qualities  with  me  at  this  time  as  supplying 
the  only  true  preparedness  for  the  battle  of  life  upon 
which  you  are  about  to  enter. 

Preparedness  is  the  theme  of  the  hour.  The  news- 
papers and  magazines  discuss  little  else.    We  have  pre- 


paredness  processions  and  preparedness  conventions; 
preparedness  drills  and  preparedness  camps.  Most  of  us 
accept  military  preparedness  as  an  unfortunate  necessity 
in  this  stage  of  the  world's  development.  No  true  citizen 
would  neglect  any  measure  for  the  security  of  the  nation. 
I  shall,  therefore,  not  argue  for  military  preparedness. 
But  the  application  of  the  preparedness  idea  does  not 
cease  there.  Caught  by  a  new  word,  fascinated  by  a  new 
phrase,  men  are  preaching  preparedness  as  a  universal 
measure.  Its  advocates  proceed  enthusiastically  to  apply 
it  to  industry,  to  government,  and  to  private  life,  as  well 
as  to  plans  for  the  defence  of  the  nation.  It  is  to  be  the 
remedy  for  every  political  and  social  evil,  the  method  of 
promoting  every  economic  and  industrial  interest.  At- 
tracted by  the  popular  excitement,  the  reformers  and 
agitators,  the  politicians  and  demagogues,  the  faddists 
and  fakirs,  are  everywhere  shouting  for  preparedness. 
The  need  of  preparedness  has  come  to  be  spoken  of  also 
by  serious  people  as  an  axiom  and  an  aphorism.  Some 
would  make  it  the  criterion  of  every  social  program,  the 
shibboleth  of  every  political  party.  It  is  a  dictum  to 
which  we  must  assent,  or  be  outcasts;  a  creed  we  must 
accept,  or  be  damned.  At  such  a  time  it  is  well  to  think 
soberly  of  the  whole  subject. 

Let  us  remember,  first,  that  this  excitement  about 
military  preparedness  has  a  temporary  cause.  This 
cause  is  found  in  the  two  awful  tragedies  of  the  day — the 
great  tragedy  of  the  war  in  Europe  and  the  smaller,  but 
to  us,  nearer,  tragedy  of  the  utter  breakdown  of  govern- 
ment in  Mexico.  The  spectacle  of  so  many  armed  men, 
equipped  in  such  marvelous  fashion  to  use  such  titanic 
forces  in  such  desperate  fighting,  naturally  arouses  great 
emotional  excitement  concerning  military  matters.  The 
storm  of  anarchy  raging  now  for  nearly  five  years  in 
Mexico,  which  on  several  occasions  has  thrown  its  bloody 
waves  upon  our  shores,  also  awakens  our  deep  concern, 
and  turns  our  thoughts  to  means  of  defence  and  restoration 
of  order.  This  is  all  very  natural;  but  such  spectacles 
and  such  fears  furnish  no  proper  basis  for  an  estimate  of 

2 


our  necessities  and  requirements.  They  should  only  be 
considered  as  object  lessons  of  the  general  advisability  of 
preparedness. 

This  propaganda  in  favor  of  preparedness  has  the 
fault  of  every  propaganda.  Its  advocates  are  so  excited 
that  they  have  only  a  vague  idea  of  the  principle  involved. 
The  preparation  of  a  nation  is  a  long  process.  The  mili- 
tary preparation  of  some  of  the  nations  of  Europe  now  at 
war  has  required  fifty  years.  To  say,  too,  that  their 
preparation  was  military  is  to  state  only  a  part  of  the 
truth.  As  a  fact,  their  preparation  has  consisted  chiefly 
in  the  training  of  their  people  and  the  development  of 
their  intellects  and  characters,  which  is  the  most  important 
preparation. 

In  the  next  place,  let  us  remember  that  the  doctrine 
of  preparedness  is  as  old  as  history.  The  preparation  of 
the  earth  through  the  ages  and  the  preparation  of  plants 
and  animals,  period  by  period,  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
modern  doctrine  of  evolution,  but  thousands  of  years 
before  evolution  was  conceived  of,  men  recognized  the 
truth  of  preparedness  in  Nature  and  taught  the  law  of 
preparation  in  government,  industry,  and  commerce,  as 
well  as  in  war.  Nature,  history,  and  practical  experience 
have,  in  fact,  taught  men  through  the  ages  the  necessity 
of  systematic  preparation  in  all  departments  of  life. 

The  course  of  Nature  is  one  continuous  process  of 
preparation.  Astronomy,  geology,  and  biology  all  teach 
us  that  the  material  world  was  progressively  prepared, 
just  as  history,  philosophy,  and  religion  teach  us  that  the 
minds  and  souls  of  men  have  been  prepared  through  the 
ages. 

If  we  consider,  first,  the  material  world,  and  look  up 
into  the  heavens  through  the  telescope,  we  learn  that  out 
of  chaos  was  prepared  a  cosmos,  and  out  of  nebulae,  the 
planetary  systems  with  their  suns,  moons,  and  worlds. 
If  by  the  aid  of  chemistry  we  look  down  into  the  minute 
things  of  matter,  we  see  that  out  of  electrons  are  prepared 
formed  atoms;  out  of  atoms,  molecules;  out  of  molecules, 
crystals;    out  of  crystals,  mountain  ranges.    So  physical 

3 


geology  teaches  us  that  each  change  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  was  a  preparation  for  another  change,  each  period 
a  step  in  the  preparation  of  the  earth  for  man.  Mountain 
and  plain,  river  and  ocean,  plants  and  animals,  all  were 
prepared  by  the  Creator  for  the  coming  of  man,  the 
creature  made  in  His  image,  who  was  to  have  dominion 
over  them  all.  We  see  more  clearly  every  year  that  the 
material  world  was  prepared  deliberately  and  with  design 
and  purpose  to  be  the  home  of  life,  culminating  in  the 
life  of  mind  and  spirit.  As  the  wise  man  said,  three 
thousand  years  ago:  4 'The  Lord  by  wisdom  hath  founded 
the  earth,  by  understanding  hath  He  prepared  the  heavens. 
By  His  knowledge  the  depths  are  broken  up  and  the 
clouds  drop  down  the  dew." 

So  in  the  world  of  life.  Each  species  of  plant  was  a 
preparation  for  a  more  perfect  one — the  algae  for  the 
ferns,  and  the  ferns  for  the  flowering  plants.  Every  new 
animal  was  a  preparation  for  a  higher  one — fishes  for 
reptiles,  and  reptiles  for  mammals.  First  the  frost  and 
water,  then  the  bacteria  and  earth-worms,  prepare  the 
soil  for  the  grass;  the  grass  is  food  for  the  ox;  and  the 
ox  is  food  for  man.  The  seasons  also  sing  of  preparation 
for  the  coming  life — winter  for  spring  and  its  flowers, 
spring  for  summer  and  its  harvests,  and  summer  for 
autumn  and  its  fruits.  In  all  our  plans  we  rely  upon  the 
orderly  sequence  of  the  days,  the  months,  and  the  seasons — 
morning  preparing  for  noon,  noon  for  night,  and  each 
month  for  the  next,  the  year  round.  The  farmer  relies 
upon  Nature's  help  in  preparing  the  soil  and  in  supplying 
the  rain.  Wise  husbandmen,  like  the  squirrels,  lay  in 
their  fruits  for  the  coming  winter;  "like  the  ants,  a 
people  not  strong,  they  prepare  their  meat  in  the  summer." 

Now,  as  it  is  in  the  cosmic  orders,  planetary  systems, 
geologic  periods,  and  genera  of  plants  and  animals,  as  it  is 
with  the  seasons,  so  it  is  with  each  individual  life, whether 
it  be  a  bacterium,  plant,  animal,  or  man.  Each  has  a 
special  period  of  preparation,  a  time  of  incubation  or  a 
chrysalis  stage,  as  well  as  a  spring  of  growth  and  a  summer 
of  fruitage,  before  it  yields  the  stage  of  life  to  its  successor. 

4 


Of  no  living  thing  is  this  more  true  than  of  man.  As 
all  Nature  labored  to  prepare  the  world  for  man,  so  his 
preparation  for  complete  living  has  been  the  task  of  the 
ages.  To  make  man  worthy  of  his  Maker  is  the  final  end 
of  all  natural  things — the  end  of  our  society,  institutions, 
and  governments,  as  well  as  of  our  homes,  schools,  and 
churches.  Philosophers  tell  us  that  as  we  go  up  the  scale 
of  life,  whether  it  be  bird,  lower  mammalian,  or  man,  the 
period  of  infancy  and  preparation  grows  constantly 
longer  and  more  important  in  its  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  species.  The  greater  the  brain  and  nervous 
system,  the  longer  is  the  period  of  preparation.  Prepara- 
tion is  the  law  of  education. 

History  teaches  the  same  lesson.  Each  age,  each 
nation,  has  been  a  preparation  for  a  better  age  and  a 
greater  nation.  To  His  chosen  people  God  said :  ' 'Behold, 
I  send  an  angel  before  thee  to  keep  thee  in  the  way  and 
to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I  have  prepared." 
True  to  His  promise,  through  all  history  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  has  led  His  people  into,  first,  one  prepared  land, 
then  into  another — first,  into  Palestine;  then,  into 
Greece;  then,  to  Rome;  then,  into  continental  Europe; 
and  now,  to  America.  Throughout  all  ages  the  command 
has  been:  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  people,  cast  up, 
cast  up  the  highways,  gather  up  the  stones,  lift  up  the 
standard  for  the  people." 

The  solemn  question  for  us  today  is:  Whither  shall 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  lead  His  people  next?  It  will  surely 
be  into  a  prepared  land,  into  the  land  where  men  are 
ready  to  do  the  Lord's  work.  The  great  people  of  the 
future  will  inhabit  the  land  best  prepared  to  develop  men. 
Will  it  be  Europe,  will  it  be  the  Orient,  or  will  it  be 
America?  If  science,  biology,  and  history  teach  us  any- 
thing, the  great  civilization  of  the  future  will  develop  in  a 
prepared  land  among  a  prepared  people.  Whether  Ameri- 
cans shall  be  that  people  will  depend  upon  how  they  are 
prepared  in  body,  mind,  and  soul. 

This  law  of  preparation  governs  the  spiritual,  as  well 
as  the  material  and  industrial  world.    The  minds  and  the 


5 


spirits  of  men  are  being  prepared,  as  well  as  their  bodies. 
Men  were  given  a  church  and  religion  for  the  development 
of  their  spirits.  As  He  made  an  earth  for  training  their 
bodies,  so  God  built  a  temple  for  training  the  souls  of  men. 
Through  the  ages  His  spiritual  temple  has  been  preparing. 
Abraham  built  his  altar  at  Bethel.  With  the  stone  that 
was  his  pillow  when  he  had  the  vision  of  the  ladder  into 
Heaven,  Jacob  built  his  house  of  the  Lord.  After  the 
plans  given  by  God  in  the  Mount,  Moses  built  the  taber- 
nacle in  the  wilderness.  We  read  that  "All  the  work  of 
Solomon  was  prepared  unto  the  day  of  the  foundation  of 
the  house  of  the  Lord  and  until  it  was  finished.  So  the 
house  of  the  Lord  was  perfected."  And  the  prophet 
declared:  ''And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days 
that  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  prepared 
in  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above 
the  hills;  and  all  the  nations  shall  flow  into  it,  and  many 
people  shall  go  and  say:  'Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to 
the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  to  the  house  of  the  God  of 
Jacob;  and  He  will  teach  us  of  His  ways,  and  we  will 
walk  in  His  paths;  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law, 
and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem.'  "  So  in  due 
course  of  time  John  the  Baptist  came  "to  make  ready  a 
people  prepared  for  the  Lord,"  and  Jesus  taught  that  His 
Heaven  was  to  be  a  prepared  place  for  prepared  men. 
"Come,  ye  blessed  of  My  Father,"  He  said,  "and  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

There  has  always  been,  in  every  age,  a  leading  people 
in  a  specially  prepared  land.  Assyria,  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Greece,  all  had  their  day  of  glory  and  service.  Do  we 
desire  that  our  land  may  be  this  prepared  land,  the  land 
of  peace,  the  home  of  progress  and  the  mother  of  the 
coming  race?  What,  then,  is  our  ideal  for  America?  Are 
wealth  and  power  our  only  ends?  Shall  we  be  satisfied 
with  mere  quiet  and  the  chance  to  feed  and  multiply? 
Or  have  we  a  higher  ideal?  "Broad  based  upon  her  peo- 
ple's will"  America  has  a  higher  destiny  than  to  breed 
men  and  make  them  fat  with  ease.    Theodore  Parker  has 


6 


given  us  the  classical  definition  of  the  American  idea.  In 
1850  he  said :  "This  idea  demands,  as  the  proximate  orga- 
nization thereof,  a  democracy  that  is  a  government  of  all 
the  people,  by  all  the  people,  for  all  the  people;  a  govern- 
ment of  the  principles  of  eternal  justice,  the  unchanging 
law  of  God.  For  shortness'  sake,  I  will  call  it  the  idea 
of  Freedom."  This  is  the  American  idea,  this  is  the 
purpose  of  our  nation,  the  realization  of  freedom  in  a 
democracy,  the  embodiment  of  eternal  justice  in  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people.  This  government  which  our  fathers 
left  us  it  is  our  duty  to  preserve  and  develop.  How  then 
shall  we,  their  descendants,  do  this?  Can  we  do  it  merely 
by  marshalling  our  industries  and  drilling  our  people  as 
some  propose?  Can  we  by  "scientific  efficiency"  save 
America  and  make  her  a  moral  power  in  the  world? 
Preparedness  is  not  merely  the  training  of  the  people  in 
"scientific  efficiency,"  meaning  thereby  "mechanized 
efficiency."  True  national  preparedness  is  something 
far  different  and  much  larger  than  engineering  skill  or 
industrial  organization ;  it  is  socialized  energy,  it  is  the 
intelligence  and  character  of  a  people  organized  for  service. 
This  kind  of  efficiency  cannot  be  drilled  into  a  people  by 
autocratic  authority.  Social  efficiency  is  a  human,  a 
spiritual  quality. 

Moreover,  such  a  quality  becomes  a  social  force  only 
through  democratic  agencies.  A  machine  may  be  effi- 
cient in  a  certain  sense,  but  it  cannot  be  efficient  in  the 
sense  that  a  human  being  is;  for  a  machine  cannot  con- 
form itself  to  conditions,  but  must,  when  not  directed  by  a 
man,  perform  one  process  at  all  times  and  under  all 
circumstances.  Only  a  human  being  can  direct  himself, 
guiding  his  actions  by  a  mind  and  a  conscience.  In  the 
autocracy  the  people  need  no  conscience,  for  the  sovereign 
orders  what  shall  be  done.  Only  in  a  democracy,  where 
men  are  free  to  use  their  own  minds  and  consciences,  can 
true  social  efficiency  exist.  In  an  autocracy  the  people 
cannot  possess  this  socialized  energy;  they  cannot  be 
truly  efficient.    As  Shelley  says: 


7 


"Power,  like  a  desolating  pestilence, 
Pollutes  whate'er  it  touches,  and  obedience, 
Bane  of  all  genius,  virtue,  freedom,  truth, 
Makes  slaves  of  men,  and  of  the  human  frame 
A  mechanized  automaton." 

How,  then,  can  the  democracy  develop  this  true 
efficiency?  Only  by  educating  and  training  its  individual 
members  and  giving  them  character,  as  well  as  intelli- 
gence. Where  each  individual  is  a  part  of  the  sovereign 
power,  he  must  have  not  only  intelligence,  but  conscience. 
The  efficient  democracy  is  embodied  conscience  and 
heart. 

The  paramount  issue,  then,  that  is  brought  home  to  us 
by  this  European  war  and  by  this  anarchy  in  Mexico  is 
not  merely  military  preparation;  it  is  the  issue  of  the 
development,  through  the  education  and  the  moralization 
of  the  people,  of  a  more  perfect  socialized  energy.  A  state 
is  only  truly  great  in  the  moral  qualities  of  its  members, 
and  moral  qualities  can  only  be  developed  by  the  mutual 
interaction  of  minds  and  hearts.  The  primary  business 
of  the  state  is  not  war,  it  is  the  making  of  men.  Character 
and  courage  are  the  first  characteristics  of  the  prepared 
people.  Even  in  war  it  is  not  the  big  gun  that  wins  the 
battle,  it  is  the  man  behind  the  gun;  it  is  not  even  the 
high  explosive  that  actuates  the  gun,  it  is  the  character 
of  the  man. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  graduating  class,  consider 
your  part  in  this  preparedness  program.  I  have  said 
enough,  I  hope,  to  show  you  that  you  have  much  to  do  in 
the  preparation  of  this  nation,  besides  drilling  soldiers, 
training  nurses,  or  paying  taxes  for  guns  and  munitions, 
warships  and  forts.  It  is  by  preparing  yourselves  that 
you  can  best  prepare  your  country  for  the  struggles  ahead 
of  her — by  preparing  yourselves  in  mind,  heart,  and  con- 
science. Proud  as  we  are  of  what  you  have  done  here,  it 
is  my  duty  to  tell  you  that  your  preparation  has  only  just 
begun.  You  will  become  cooperating  citizens  of  a  nation, 
which  has  to  be  prepared  for  the  greatest  tasks  to  which 
any  people  was  ever  called.    And  you  can  best  prepare 

8 


this  nation  to  meet  these  tasks  by  making  yourselves 
noble  men. 

"A  people  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one; 
And  those  who  live  as  models  for  the  mass 
Are  singly  of  more  value,  than  they  all." 

That  you  have  the  ability  to  do  your  part  we  testify 
by  putting  our  stamp  upon  you.  We  have  tested  you 
and  we  know  you  have  talents;  we  have  trained  you  and 
we  know  you  have  capacities;  but  your  resources  will 
be  like  crude  coal  in  the  mines,  your  powers  like  water 
running  over  the  fall,  if  you  do  not  use  them.  To  be 
useful,  the  coal  must  be  mined;  to  be  productive,  the 
water  must  be  turned  into  the  penstock  and  over  the 
wheel. 

You  are  now  calling  for  a  chance.  If  prepared,  you 
shall  have  it.  The  opportunity  to  serve  comes  to  every 
prepared  man  and  woman,  and  when  it  comes  it  will  call 
for  all  the  talents  and  all  the  character  you  can  muster. 
Prepare!  Success  is  never  accidental.  There  is  no  luck 
in  the  moral  world.    True  success  is  always  prepared. 

I  have  tried  to  show  you  that  education  is  not  all,  and 
efficiency  is  not  enough;  that  there  must  be  character 
back  of  your  education  and  your  efficiency.  Man  is 
something  more  than  body  and  mind— he  is  a  soul. 

Tolstoi  said:  "It  is  necessary  for  man  to  have  a  soul." 
Why?  Because  there  are  many  things  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  explain  without  a  soul.  One  of  these  things  is 
man's  progress.  In  order  to  move  forward  the  race  has 
through  all  the  centuries  regularly  had  to  sacrifice  the 
body  to  the  soul.  In  wars  and  martyrdoms,  on  the  block 
and  at  the  stake,  man  has  given  his  body  to  make  way 
for  his  spirit.  The  soul  has  been  marching  over  the  body 
through  these  thousands  of  years.  Behind  and  above  all 
human  progress  has  stood  the  regnant  soul.  For  this 
reason  no  other  animal  has  progressed  like  man.  Hogs 
today  are  just  the  same  as  the  Gadarine  swine  which  ran 
down  the  bluff  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.    The  horse  is  today 

9 


no  nobler  than  he  was  when  Alexander  drove  him  to  his 
chariot.  But  man  is  still  pressing  up  the  heights  of 
progress,  holding  in  his  hand  the  lamp  of  liberty  that 
lights  the  path  to  the  home  of  the  immortals. 

It  is  also  necessary  for  a  nation  to  have  a  soul.  Has 
America  a  soul?  Our  fathers  made  the  great  sacrifice 
that  we  might  have  souls,  but  are  our  souls  progressing? 
What  are  we  sacrificing  for  the  souls  of  our  children? 
Have  we  met  the  great  issues  of  the  last  two  years  as  we 
should  have  done?  More  than  one  nation  has  found  its 
soul  in  these  last  terrible  months.  While  their  souls  are 
marching  on  so  grandly,  some  of  us  are  wondering  if 
Americans  have  not  been  selling  their  souls  for  Mammon. 
Have  we  not  failed  to  take  the  moral  leadership  we  should? 
Morally  have  we  not  lost  our  way? 

Upon  you,  young  men  and  women,  will  be  the  duty  to 
lead  this  people  back  into  the  right  way.  Some  of  you 
will  be  called  upon  to  sacrifice  your  bodies  that  the  soul 
of  this  nation  may  go  marching  on.  Are  you  ready, 
ready  in  spirit,  as  well  as  in  mind  and  heart?  I  charge 
you,  then,  to  prepare  your  souls,  as  well  as  your  minds 
and  hearts.  The  supremest  preparedness  is  soul  pre- 
paredness. 

How  shall  you  get  this  soul  preparedness?  Only  by 
the  pursuit  of  truth  and  righteousness.  Then  you  must 
have  an  ideal  of  the  truth,  and  a  standard  of  righteousness; 
in  other  words,  you  must  have  a  religion.  Without  re- 
ligion neither  man  nor  nation  can  make  any  progress  in 
righteousness,  justice,  or  brotherhood.  Religion  is  the 
only  safe  foundation  of  personal  and  national  life.  This  is 
true  of  all  forms  of  national  life,  but  it  is  above  all  true  of 
the  democracy.  Our  whole  American  system  rests  upon 
the  moral  judgment  and  right  feeling  of  the  people,  and 
religion  is  the  only  means  of  cultivating  moral  judgment 
and  right  feeling.  I  sincerely  believe  that  the  only  hope 
of  the  democracy  is  that  the  people  shall  believe  in  God 
and  shall  learn  from  Him  to  live  righteously  and  to  love 
their  fellow  men. 

Because  then  you  have  a  soul,  it  is  necessary  for  you 

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to  have  a  God.  Not  by  hands,  nor  eyes,  nor  ears;  not 
by  mind,  but  by  soul  is  it  that  man  progresses.  The  soul 
of  man  has  two  great  needs;  it  needs  guidance  and  it 
needs  power.  First,  the  soul  needs  a  teacher.  A  man 
without  a  God  is  like  a  ship  without  a  pilot;  it  may  float 
for  a  while,  but  it  will  not  sail  very  far  or  carry  anyone 
into  the  harbor.  Alan  needs  God  for  his  ideal,  his  inspir- 
ing standard,  for  his  ineffable  and  ineffaceable  light. 
Human  ideals  are  faulty  and  fail,  they  are  uncertain  lights, 
they  flicker  fitfully,  burn  down  in  their  sockets,  and  go 
out.  They  lead  him,  like  will-o'-the-wisps,  into  the 
swamp,  and  then  go  out  in  the  darkness.  But  God  is  an 
eternal  light,  a  shining,  deathless,  everlasting  sun.  The 
godless  man  is  in  the  dark;  he  has  lost  his  way;  his  con- 
science is  befogged;  he  has  no  guide  to  duty.  What  then 
can  a  man  do  better  than  to  give  God  his  hand  and  pray: 
"Lead  Thou  me  on,  'till  night  is  flecked  with  day  and  day- 
grows  nightless," 

The  other  need  of  the  soul  is  for  power,  power  to  en- 
dure, to  struggle,  and  to  conquer.  God  is  also  man's 
power  to  be  and  to  become.  Temptations  are  ever  pres- 
ent. He  who  yields  to  low  motives  and  base  desires  has 
already  lost  the  fight.  One  needs  not  only  the  guidance 
of  a  great  ideal,  but  the  lift  of  a  strong  hand.  The  most 
glorious  deeds  are  accomplished  when  God  and  man  strike 
hands  to  do.  Then  is  wrought  that  which  cheers  the 
faint,  lifts  the  fallen,  and  frees  the  fettered,  rights  wrong 
and  crowns  right. 

St.  Paul  would  teach  us  that  the  man  whose  light  and 
strength  is  God  can  stand  alone.  He  may  be  abused, 
villified,  persecuted,  but  he  will  not  flinch.  He  will  regard 
duty  as  a  finer  thing  than  life,  prefer  death  to  dishonor, 
and  stand  face  to  face  with  grim  terror,  fighting  on  when 
all  others  have  fled  the  field. 

We  are  told  that  the  noblest  thing  Pompeii  has  yielded 
to  the  explorer  was  that  ''figure  of  a  Roman  soldier,  clad 
in  complete  armour,  who,  true  to  duty,  true  to  the  proud 
name  of  a  soldier  of  Rome,  full  of  the  stern  courage  which 
had  given  that  name  its  glory,  stood  to  his  post  by  the  city 

11 


gate,  erect  and  unflinching,  until  the  hell  that  raged 
around  him  burned  out  the  dauntless  spirit  it  could  not 
conquer."  Such,  doubtless,  was  the  Roman  soldier  Paul 
had  in  mind.  Magnificent  example  of  the  man  now 
needed  to  withstand  the  volcanic  eruptions  of  these 
times!  Like  that  Roman  soldier,  may  you  stand,  "having 
your  loins  girt  about  with  truth,  and  having  on  the  breast- 
plate of  righteousness;  and  your  feet  shod  with  the 
preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace." 


12 


940.^5        D114  P12991 


